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Maracaibo, Lake

(Encyclopedia)Maracaibo, Lake, largest lake of South America, c.5,100 sq mi (13,210 sq km), NW Venezuela, extending c.110 mi (180 km) inland. A strait, 34 mi (55 km) long, connects it with the Gulf of Venezuela. Di...

murre

(Encyclopedia)murre mör [key], common name for a group of diving birds of the same family as the auk and the puffin (family Alcidae) and including the guillemots. There are three species of murres, all about 18 in...

gavial

(Encyclopedia)gavial gāˈvēəl [key], large reptile of the crocodile order, found in rivers from Pakistan to Myanmar. Also called gharial, the gavial (Gavialis gangeticus) is distinguished from the crocodiles and...

game laws

(Encyclopedia)game laws, restrictions on the hunting or capture of wild game, whether bird, beast, or fish. After the Norman Conquest (1066), England enacted stringent game laws, known as the Forest Laws, which mad...

darter, bird

(Encyclopedia)darter or anhinga ănhĭngˈgə [key], common name for a very slender, black water bird very closely related to the cormorant. It frequents the wooded borders of freshwater lakes, rivers, and swamps i...

Cuadra, Pablo Antonio

(Encyclopedia)Cuadra, Pablo Antonio, 1912–2002, Nicaraguan poet, b. Managua. Early in life, Cuadra became a member of the Vanguard literary movement and edited (1929) its journal. Influenced by Rubén Darío and ...

toadfish

(Encyclopedia)toadfish, common name for the sluggish, bottom-feeding fishes of the family Batrachoididae, found mainly in marine and brackish waters worldwide. Toadfishes feed largely on crustaceans and small fishe...

rickets

(Encyclopedia)rickets or rachitis rəkīˈtĭs [key], bone disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin D or calcium. Essential in regulating calcium and phosphorus absorption by the body, vitamin D can be formed in t...

Orange River

(Encyclopedia)Orange River, chief river of S Africa, c.1,300 mi (2,090 km) long, rising in the Maluti Mts., N Lesotho. It flows SW through Lesotho, then meanders northwest and west through central South Africa, for...

organometallic chemistry

(Encyclopedia)organometallic chemistry, the reactions and use of a class of compounds (R-M) that contain a covalent bond between carbon and metal. They are prepared either by direct reaction of the metal with an or...